Soon enough, it came time for a mission briefing. He figured it was just gonna be another ridiculous scheme that would no doubt backfire badly one way or another, and that he would then spend another good few minutes chastising his moronic sergeant for it.

And he was right for the most part. As Giroro had yet again, found himself berating the fool. It wasn't even an invasion plan either, just another stupid get-rich-quick scheme! It annoyed him further, knowing that he was getting too used to these half-baked schemes the Sergeant kept cooking up…

The angry soldier's yelling grew louder in frustration, pounding his fist on the table just to emphasize his recycled points.

It took all of his self-restraint not to throttle his commanding officer, for his constant incompetence as an invader. Though his want to do so was coming in loud and clear to the sarge. As they were now cowering away from the ready to burst Corporal.

Luckily for Keroro, Giroro's violent rant quickly became one of painful gagging and harsh coughing instead. Quickly gaining the attention and mild concern of the rest of the platoon, who were previously just quietly watching the common scene unfold as per usual.

This time it was more painful and asphyxiating. Giroro began gripping the edge of the table as if it were a stress ball. He could feel it crack under his hand, splinters threatening to pierce his palm.

He had shoved is whole fist into his mouth. Just to hide what he knew to be more of those annoying little petals, and doing his damndest to quiet his largely loud hacks and gags.

Dororo was the first one to come to his aid, and began to lightly pat him on the back. Trying to help him cough up whatever got stuck in his lungs. And as soon as his loud outburst was over, he quietly muttered a thank you to the ninja, and swiftly excused himself from the room before another coughing session could begin again.

Without apologizing for nearly breaking the table and Keroro...

This left the rest of the platoon confused, and growing more concerned for the soldier. It only skyrocketed when Tamama innocently asked if the corporal had eaten flowers or something. "Cause he spat out these pink petals all over the table!"

Keroro and Dororo looked at eachother with terrified realisation, and Kururu just chuckled quietly in the corner, still facing his laptop.

"Oh, a rare galactic disease. How lucky."


And again! The stupid cough was back! How was he supposed to sleep and get his mind off it, if it refused to let him sleep and get his mind off it!? It'd been like this all day now! Making it just about impossible to do anything without spit and flower going everywhere!

It was over sooner this time however, and for that he was grateful. Finally allowing his mind to wander and hopefully rest.

Unfortunately, Giroro's mind wandered to the worst of places. Specifically, of her…

He mentally chastised himself for being so gutless. He knew he should at least say something to her, maybe finally work up the courage to admit his feelings to her. So then he'd at least have an answer to his years old question. And not just guessing and hoping that she'd finally catch on with him, and be the one to finally say SOMETHING.

But, everytime he had even thought about it, the worst case scenario would immediately pop into his head. And he'd back out before even going in.

And now he has to deal with this because of his own cowardice.

He suddenly spat out a few more petals in another brief cough. Only further irritating him. He looked at the newly hacked up petals, and pluck one up from the pile to analyze it a little closer.

He mentally chuckled a bit.

"Of course she likes pink Camellias…"